No better than a Ghoul
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: After viewing the twelfth episode of season one, I got to thinking that people are no better than the monsters they encounter in the night. Suppose that there were actions taken to undo these monsters while ensuring that some of the real monsters are dispatched without casualties? What if there was someone willing to do such things, for people and Ghouls?
1. No better than a Ghoul

Creation began on 06-25-17

Creation ended on 06-26-17

Tokyo Ghoul

No better than a Ghoul

A/N: I had to give up watching the twelfth episode of season one last night on Toonami, but compensated with Hulu, so I didn't miss much. Here's the result of watching the first season.

Sometimes, he had to find a reason to excuse the cruelties of other creatures that made human beings pale in comparison to them, such as having faster reaction times, thicker hides, even ghost-like powers. But even he could see, could comprehend, that there were always factors, always hints, always something that made him aware that despite their frailties and insecurities, there were multitudes of human beings that were no better than the monstrous labels they place on creatures they choose to fear over understanding. It was one of the reasons he found himself paying much attention to this new universe that found its way into his perception to undo its negatives by installing new positives to change the outcomes that could have been altered. A universe where the massive city of Tokyo was home to beings known simply as Ghouls.

"I've seen what the Ghouls are capable of enough times to know that they're dangerous when they attack or defend," the former human expressed, looking at the scenes of the universe through a purple crystal sphere that levitated around him on his wooden throne, "but you have people, weak and misguided by their fear and contempt, that fail to see that not all of them are dangerous. And the ones that find alternate ways to get their food to survive are the ones that end up being more innocent than regular people are…while the rest of them gorge themselves like there's no end to their buffet…and the people that disregard them… What can they do…but what they've always done?"

He reached out and grabbed the sphere and caught sight of a disgraceful scene of the past, one of many that needed to be changed for the better. It was of a young boy's mother being overworked to the bone because of her elder sister, who deceived her with financial crisis when she was living quite well for her own family. The end result was the mother dying and the aunt neglecting her nephew, the same boy that would suffer at the hands of a dangerous Ghoul.

"The only thing worse than a binge-eating Ghoul," he uttered, "is a lying human binging on the kindness of others while showing no signs of redemption. I'll deal with both sides of the line, humans and Ghouls, starting with the depraved aunt."

Then, in a small breeze that swept past the wooden throne, the man was gone, leaving his domain empty, a peaceful meadow with a large tree decorated with cherry blossoms falling from the branches.

-x-

As Ken Kaneki's aunt left her sister's place for the umpteenth time with her allowance for her financial crisis, she stopped in front of a strange man that seemed to appear out of nowhere, looking at her like he had a problem with her.

He seemed around her sister's age, maybe her husband's, dressed in casual jeans and a red shirt, with a blue ascot tied around his neck. What stood out about him were his eyes; she had never seen a man with eyes as dark as his…yet full of a hidden power that others could scarcely comprehend.

"What do you want?" She asked him.

"What do I want?" He echoed, sounding infuriated, but kept his tone under control. "I want you to stop pestering your sister for money. Do you not understand that you're killing her?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I have bills to pay."

"Don't we all? Doesn't your husband work good hours and makes a sufficient amount to afford your lifestyle? Don't you have a decent job in the city where you make a decent amount? Oh, wait, you do. Oh, wait, your husband does. So why ask your sister for what you clearly don't need?"

"I don't have to stand here and listen to such false accusations," she told him as she resumed walking.

Grip. The man grabbed her right arm and forced her against the wall.

"You will stand there," he told her, "and you will listen to me…because I'm not done here. I've only started. You can either accept the rules or face the consequences for your actions against your sister and nephew. Which will it be? You think you have it difficult? I can make you cry for difficult."

Her envelope fell from her hands onto the ground. Neither she or this man made a move to pick it up.

"You're going to stop asking her for handouts," he ordered her. "You're going to pay more attention to your son because he's going down the same road of self-indulgence that you do. I hear Ghouls love the taste of those that are self-indulgent, especially the gluttonous ones. And if something happens to your sister and nephew that even hints at the possibility of being your fault, I will be coming to pay you a visit…and it will not be pleasant. Not one bit. Do you understand me?"

She nodded in the positive, fearful of the possibility that he was a Ghoul picking her out for his next meal that she didn't speak.

"I need to hear you say it," she heard him say. "Say that you understand, that you mean it."

"Yes, I understand," she uttered. "I won't bother her again for money. I swear. I promise."

He stepped back and picked up the fallen parcel.

"And one more thing," he expressed, "you're going to reimburse your sister and nephew, starting now, until you've paid back what you took from them. Each bill given…is just another moment of life you help to shorten. So when you give this back, you're going to say…"

-x-

"…Sorry for troubling you so much, dear," young Ken heard his aunt say to his mother as she returned the money her sister nearly broke her working for.

This was the seventh time his aunt had come to give them money instead of being given money. While he didn't complain or question it, Ken did feel a sense of happiness for his mother. It meant that she didn't have to work so hard, anymore, and had more time to recoup.

-x-

With the damage rectified to ensure that the boy's mother would continue to be around for years to come, the mysterious man paid a trip to his second destination: The Anteiku café. He had some business there to discuss with the manager.

"Can I help you, sir?" Renji Yomo asked him as he sat by the window.

"I'll have whatever the special of the day is, please," he answered, "and if possible, I'd also like to speak with your manager."

He didn't have to wait very long for his drink or the manager, Yoshimura.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Yoshimura asked him.

Putting down his cup and sipping the coffee, the stranger responded, "Yes. And this is such delicious coffee. I have a peculiar problem that I hope you could help me with. Nothing like a threat or illegal, mind you. Just a…large batch of beans that I just can't throw out."

He was really the only customer present within the café, yet he seemed to speak cryptically, like he didn't want to be misunderstood.

"You say you have coffee beans that you can't throw out?" Yoshimura questioned, sitting across the table. "What kind of coffee beans, exactly?"

"The kind those you help need."

Even though there was no hint of a threat coming from this man, Renji did feel a degree of intimidation. It was like this man, this human, knew what they were and was being calm about it.

"Unless they've been preserved very well, they do tend to go bad," Yoshimura told him.

"Oh, they're well-preserved," he explained. "Even carefully frozen mildly to preserve flavor. You would likely have enough to last you about five months, give or take."

"Just one question: Murder?"

"Only one answer: Suicide."

This man had to know that Anteiku was a haven for Ghouls that couldn't hunt or kill humans…and was trying to supply them with dead humans to live.

"Just who are you?" Renji asked him.

"Someone that has spent a long time dealing with problems that need to be dealt with positively, not negatively, and vice versa if the problem involves those that can't change their habits and harm people that have done them no wrong."

"Like what, Ghouls?"

"Anyone, regardless of their background."

-x-

With the Anteiku cafe's supply of human flesh secured by him, the stranger had two other places to deal with: The place where Ken Kaneki would get injured and have to undergo surgery and end up with his attempted Ghoul attacker's organs replacing his own that were damaged…and the alleyway where Ryouko Fueguchi would be purposely murdered by Ghoul Investigators that crossed the line, leaving her daughter an orphan. He had already paid the Ghoul child's father a visit and took steps to ensure that he wouldn't get killed, but he had to take the same precautions for his wife. But first things first, he had to deal with Ken, who was now coming down the street as he was running from the Ghoul that was as dangerous as she was attractive.

"Aah!" Ken gasped as he was grabbed by the stranger and pulled into a dark corner.

"Be quiet and stay down," the man told him before he ran back out onto the street. "Rize!"

The Ghoul, Rize, confused by the presence of this strange man whose scent overrode the scent of her previous prey.

"Enough with the binging! You're becoming a gluttonous demon!"

"And who are you to disturb my meal?"

"Someone that will tear you down if it means stopping you."

Ken never even tried to poke his head out of the dark spot to see if Rize still had those strange tentacles sprouting out her back…or the stranger pulling her near to himself in order to knock her lights out.

Rize, with her head bashed into a nearby with enough force to cause her brain damage, fell to her knees and lost consciousness.

"You should go to a doctor and get your injuries tended to," he told Ken, picking up Rize. "And afterward, try to forget about this night and this girl. But try to remember that not all Ghouls are bad."

Ken looked around the corner and saw the stranger carrying an unconscious Rize away…and how a portion of a nearby wall was destroyed…and yet the guy didn't have a scratch on him.

 _Is he some sort of Ghoul?_ He wondered, but then hissed as he remembered he had some painful injuries that needed to be tended to.

-x-

"…What are you?" Rize asked him as he dumped her on a small island that was devoid of people. "You're not human, and you're not a Ghoul!"

"I used to be human…and I'm still very human," he explained cryptically, "but I'm no Ghoul. And you're far from Tokyo right now, and I see no way for you to get back."

Rize got up off the sand and tried to attack him, but he sidestepped to his right and tripped her.

"Normally, I'd remove certain individuals from places like this and house them elsewhere, but with you, I will try this tactic to see how it pans out. This island is uninhabited, but it shall serve as your residence for the time being. I will make sure you have what you need, but I won't let you binge. Your gluttony stops here."

By the time Rize got back up, the man was gone, and on the small island was a small building shaped like a one-story house, with its interior lit up.

"What in the world?" She questioned; either she was hit in the head really hard, or this man that beat her was more complex than he seemed to her.

Approaching the small building, she saw a sign on the door that read, _"Rize's Lovely Prison Suite"_.

"Son of a bitch," she sighed, thinking the sign was meant to infuriate her.

-x-

With Rize now taken care of, he could now focus on the last piece of his current list: Save Ryouko from the Ghoul Investigators.

As it started to rain in the alleyway, he held out his hand and conjured a taser gun with the intention of neutralizing the threat that was regular people that didn't try to know better.

Suddenly, time shifted around him as the cloudburst slowed down…and in front of him was the innocent Ghoul mother and the ill-willed investigators.

"Hey!" He shouted at Kureo Mado, and fired his taser thrice at him, making sure that he was down for the count.

"Hey, you just assaulted a member of the…" One of the other investigators shouted at him, but he shot him, too.

In less than ten seconds, all the investigators surrounding Ryouko and her daughter were left either paralyzed or out cold.

"Get out of here," the stranger told the mother and daughter. "I don't like seeing good people suffer because of people like these."

"Thank you," Ryouko praised the man and took her daughter away from the alley.

"Damn you," he heard Kureo's voice as the aged man came to in front of him, but still unable to move. "They're not people. They're not human. Why are you protecting them?"

"You and I have different views on who are people and human, Mr. Mado," he responded, walking over to him, picking up the weapon he had attempted to use on Ryouko that had been made from harvesting parts of a previous Ghoul. "Do you truly believe that just because something that looks like a person that can survive by eating parts of another person is something to be hunted down? That you're doing everyone else a service by eliminating potential threats? Maybe you were a kind man once upon a time, but to nearly kill a parent in front of their child… You know what people like that make me feel, to see them harm parents and children? It makes me feel disgusted by people like you. It makes me think you're the dangerous ones. You seem to disregard that not every Ghoul is out to ruin mankind. In the slightest of ways, it is people, regular humans, that ruin the world. You do it with prejudice. You do it with stigma, racism, ethnic cleansing methods, even treating people you've never taken the time to get to know on grounds where both sides have to behave peacefully like they're out to get you. And then, there's these things you use against them. Whether it's hatred or fascination that drives you to go after Ghouls, the fact that you use parts of them to face others, it brings out only their fear and hatred of people like you."

Then, as though it were made of cheaply-made materials, he broke the weapon in half and threw the pieces at Kureo's body.

"I live to protect the ones that can't protect themselves from the likes of you," he expressed. "The innocent Ghouls you choose to go after…are now under my protection, regardless of whichever ward they reside in. I don't care what you label me as. A Ghoul lover. A Ghoul defender. Ghoul sympathizer, even. You go after one that doesn't even bother anyone, even for food, and you will have to deal with me. You will have no place to hide from me. No ward, no building, no broom closet where I won't know you're there."

Then he walked away as the cloudburst ended and the sunlight came out.

"Wait! Who are you?! What are you?! Are you a Ghoul?!" Kureo shouted, but the man was gone.

-x-

It was only the start of these mistakes that needed to be rectified, but so long as he had the power to protect those that were being hunted down and either never or have ceased hunting regular people to survive, he would continue to find solutions to ensure that there was peace between humans and Ghouls. No matter what it took him, no matter how long it took him. He lived for this purpose.

"If it comes to it, I'll add the dangerous Ghouls and most unreasonable investigators to my collection of prisoners that can't be redeemed," he told himself, standing atop the tallest building in the most docile ward where there was the scarcest degree in Ghoul activity. "To accept is to understand…and to despise is to hate out of fear. Accepting…or rejecting…depends upon those involved."

He then looked at the setting sun and sighed at how simple a thought was…but how complicated the actions resulting from the thought were.

A/N: As you can see, there's no "The End", "To be continued…", or anything to indicate that this story has concluded. Instead, fate will decide what could happen. A still-human Ken Kaneki affiliated with the Ghouls of Anteiku? Rize stuck on an uninhabited island where she can't harm anyone? The good Ghouls under a familiar stranger's protection? What could go on here?


	2. Alleviating the Rifts

Creation began on 08-05-17

Creation ended on 08-13-17

Tokyo Ghoul

Alleviating the Rifts

A/N: This idea came due to watching the episode _Rift_ , but falls into the same scenario as the previous chapter of this story. Here goes.

Before Juuzou Suzuya could swing his scythe on the Yasuhisa twins, time seemed to stand still, and the strangest part was that he was conscious of his immobility.

The twins were aware of their immobility, as well.

"I'm disgusted by each of your inability to find a way to coexist without having to resort to murder," they each heard a man's voice as footsteps came from behind Juuzou. "Even though I once stated that people were no better than Ghouls, the truth is that there are those that don't want to fight or kill to survive…and there are those that will do whatever they want to ensure their own survival, even if it means crossing lines that were never meant to be crossed without anticipating the consequences."

It was a man that didn't seem to fit in with Japanese society because of his dark skin, but his eyes held a mysterious darkness and light that people had no comprehension over.

"You two," he told the twins, walking around Juuzou and placing his right hand over the axe made from Ghoul parts. "Go lick your wounds until I come for you at a later time…and I will come after you later. But for now, I have to deal with the CCG members and Ghouls that are present here."

"What?!" Juuzou demanded. "What are you talking about?!"

"CCG members like you…and Ghouls that choose to murder people as young as children."

The twins held onto each other as they got up and staggered away from where Juuzou stood immobile.

"Thank you," Kurona said to him.

"Don't thank me," he told her. "You're on my list of mistakes that need to be corrected, too. You're just not a priority right now because of your injuries…and your former associate is more unstable than he appears, just as that elderly man is."

"Who are you?!" Juuzou demanded, just as the man relieved him of his weapon and watched it atomize into dust. "Hey, that was mine!"

"Oh, spare me your whining, and my name is Brother Correction. I'm related to all souls in existence, past and future, and a guardian of those that seek redemption and peace over domination and suffering." He revealed to the investigator, facing him. "You're a lost soul and you need to be removed from the equation that is everything going on here before you cause more hopelessness around you."

Brother Correction raised his left hand towards his forehead…and in an instant, Juuzou, originally known as Rei, vanished from the hall, leaving only himself present.

"Now for Tatara," he uttered, "and to quiet the violence for tonight."

-x-

Just as the Ghoul known as Tatara emerged from the control room of the Ghoul prison facility, the walls began releasing a strange gas that wasn't meant to keep the Ghouls in check.

"What is this?" Tatara demanded, sniffing the gas and feeling some degree of fatigue.

The investigators breathed in the gas and started to lose consciousness.

"It's just sleeping gas," went Brother Correction to everyone there. "Though, for you Ghouls, I made the gas more potent than it would be for humans. Enough to disable you…but not enough to kill you."

"Who are you?" Amon demanded, just as his quinque and those of the other investigators atomized to dust, leaving them vulnerable.

"I'm just someone that has had enough of people hunting down Ghouls…and bad Ghouls hunting down people because nobody's trying to find a way to coexist peacefully. I understand that Ghouls need to eat human flesh as their sustenance, but you don't focus on the Ghouls that binge on or hunt down humans. Because of this, I must focus on safeguarding the innocent Ghouls from your organization…while at the same time making sure the bad Ghouls are handled humanely, as opposed to inhumanely by you. And I'll only ask you this once because your mentor disgusted me. Stop hunting down Ghouls and using pieces of them to create your weapons to face them. If you continue to persist, I will take drastic measures to ensure that you stop and focus on something more tolerable. I'm the only one that can handle the Ghouls that go too far…and stop you from continuing to go too far."

"Ghouls are the enemy…and you're protecting them?"

"Not just them. People, too. I'm protecting everyone from everyone else that refuse to find another way to survive, to coexist."

He approached the fallen Tatara and picked him up, surprising everyone still conscious enough to see a dark man lift up a Japanese Ghoul.

"Leave the Ghouls alone," he told Amon before the investigator was forced to sleep.

Then he took the most dangerous Ghouls and disappeared from the facility.

 _Just one more chore for the night,_ he thought as he reappeared.

-x-

Ayato lost consciousness as he fell from exhaustion in front of Shinohara, who was wearing armor made from the remains of his father.

 _This has gone on far enough,_ thought Brother Correction as he appeared in front of Shinohara. "Remove that abomination you had made from the remains of a Ghoul."

"Who the Hell are you?" Shinohara asked, surprised by his presence.

"Someone that's about to atomize that ridiculous getup your people made from harvested Ghouls because it upsets the Ghoul that lost consciousness fighting you!"

Soon enough, the Arata that Shinohara was wearing crumbled to dust, leaving him vulnerable to any Ghouls that were nearby.

"Are you some sort of Ghoul?" He asked Brother Correction.

"Only when I choose to be," he answered him, and then waved his left hand at him, sending him flying backwards against a wall with enough force to knock him out.

"Aah!" Shinohara gasped as he fell to the ground.

Brother Correction then picked up Ayato and disappeared; even though this Ghoul was among the ones that were on his list to be dealt with by taking them to the same island that Rize was placed on so that they and people were protected from one another, he decided to try once with him to see if he was capable of changing his habits and trying to live the way his sister did.

-x-

"…I do understand that if he tries to cause trouble again, I will handle him properly, Touka," Ayato heard someone talking as he came to, finding himself inside a small room that had the lingering scent of coffee; this indicated to him that he was inside Anteiku. "I'm taking a serious risk by holding onto the hope that he can give up this crusade. A life of vengeance is no life for anyone, human or Ghoul, regardless of morality."

"Ever since we split up since our parents died, Ayato has always been rather defiant," Ayato heard Touka's voice. "If this doesn't work out for any of us, how can I be sure that you won't try and kill him if he crosses a line?"

"When I started this, I wanted to find a way to alleviate the tensions between humans and Ghouls. I dealt with a binge-eating Ghoul by simply relocating her to an uninhabited island that now serves as the locale for only Ghouls that kill. But I don't let them go hungry or sleep on some garbage."

"Very humane of you."

"I do this every time. I shall be by next month with another shipment for Anteiku."

"Thank you, sir," another voice, an older male, responded.

What Ayato didn't understand just yet as he fell out of consciousness again was how he was here and not under some investigator's dissection team being reduced to pieces used to make their weapons like other Ghouls had been. He only remembered losing consciousness in front the investigator wearing his father…and then waking up here at Anteiku. Something…just didn't add up.

-x-

"…Forget about trying to escape from here," said Rize to the new arrivals as they thought to run into the water and swim away from this island. "I've tried to, twice, but to no avail. The guy that brought us here is the only one that can free us…and he won't unless we stop hunting down humans. At least he feeds us."

"I won't be held prisoner by a human!" Tatara shouted, and then noticed a small shack with a plate with his name on the door. "What is this?!"

"That…is your new residence," Rize explained. "The guy that calls himself Brother Correction only gives us what we need to survive. Since we only need human flesh for once a month, he has to come back here each month to make sure we're fed our monthly needs. The only downside to being his prisoner here…is that the investigators can't find us."

Dozens of other Ghouls noticed other shacks that just appeared on the grounds by the beach, one for each of them, with their names on the doors.

"This guy can't be human," Tatara suggested.

"That's exactly what I thought, too," Rize told him.

-x-

"Look out at that city," Brother Correction told Juuzou, gazing at Tokyo from atop Tokyo Tower. "Have you ever taken the time to just marvel at its beauty? To bask in its nightly glow? So many people, humans and Ghouls, just tying to survive in a cluster of many a great city. How symbiotic, how social, how remarkable."

"I think you're insane if you think letting the Ghouls roam free will change anything!" Juuzou declared, ignoring his question about the city. "The CCG is permitted by the government to deal with all Ghouls within Tokyo! We have jurisdiction over any case involving Ghouls! If you think you can just show up and take over, you have another thing coming!"

Brother Correction had him floating two feet off the ground, restrained by mere rope. There was no need to use more extreme methods on restraining a mere human, especially one as disturbed as this one. Such methods were preserved for those that were beyond human, such as demons or mutations.

"And I guess you believe that the only good Ghoul is one that's dead, on a table, cut open for its best organs, and then disposed of like medical waste?" He asked Juuzou.

"Yes," he answered.

"Then you're truly like some of the other people I've met since I came here to fix the errors that exist. You're no better than a Ghoul, too. It makes me wonder why, though. Is it 'cause humans think themselves the only organism on the planet…or the universe…capable of feeling and expressing emotion? Well, then, you're wrong. Ghouls have feelings just as humans do. Even dogs and bears have feelings. But you… Your behavior, emotional aura, even your very personality… You're like every other soul that has succumbed to darkness without any desire for forgiveness. You disgust me."

"Not as much as you disgust me for destroying my quinque!"

"At first, my idea was to simply remove you from this dimension, but I might as well try something different for a young and disturbed mind like yours. If you hate Ghouls so much and were willing to kill artificial Ghouls that used to be human, then you can hate them in a sleep so deep, it'll take you years to wake up from."

Brother Correction then placed his right hand atop the young man's forehead…and made sure he was so swift that nobody that even bothered to look up at Tokyo Tower never heard Juuzou scream as his brain was temporarily maimed by a man that became more than mortal. But he would be merciful, since he had explored this boy's past and saw how damaged the young man was due to being raised by depraved Ghouls, degrading whatever sense of morality he might've had a long time. It was his hope that a long dream would aid in curing him of his own depravity and get him on the path to humanity, humility and forgiveness.

-x-

"Hmm?" Ken Kenaki went as he returned to his apartment late that night, looking out at the neighborhood around him.

He thought he heard someone screaming somewhere. Chalking it up to wishful thinking, he decided to disregard it and return his attention to a job interview he had later in the week at this small cafe he walked past a month ago.

Some place called Anteiku.

-x-

"…We found him at Tokyo Tower," a female investigator explained, showing the picture of Juuzou to her superiors. "He's been confirmed to be in a coma. The doctors aren't sure how he got injured or for how long he was tortured, but they confirmed that this isn't Ghoul-related."

"So, then, he was attacked by someone else?" One of the men in front of her questioned. "Someone that was willing to attack a CCG Investigator?"

"That's the going theory," she answered. "All we have to go on it was a note that was left with Investigator Suzuya. Apparently, whoever left it on him is taking responsibility for Investigator Suzuya's coma, claiming he did so to alleviate the rifts that exist between humans and Ghouls, that the CCG is incapable of dealing with the Ghouls with our methods. Also, that he felt sorry for what happened to him before we found him."

-x-

He wasn't afraid of the CCG trying to find him. To be honest, he wanted them to find him, eventually. The note he left on Juuzou was only the first of several breadcrumbs that would lead them to him…and he would show them that there were other ways to deal with Ghouls that didn't need to include hunting them down like animals and killing them to make their weapons.

 _Whatever plans they have for me, the bad Ghouls and the CCG will blow,_ Brother Correction thought, looking down at the wards in the blanket of the night. _For some of us, there is always hope for change that comes with forgiveness and acceptance to find a new way to deal with a so-called enemy or threat that doesn't include murder and separating children from their parents._

"Aaahh!" He heard a woman scream from one of the single-digit wards, and knew that it was an innocent woman being hunted down by an immoral Ghoul.

 _Let's go collect us another Ghoul,_ he thought, and relocated himself to the street the Ghoul was on after the woman. "You're not going to binge on her tonight."

A/N: And here's the next chapter of _No better than a Ghoul_. What do you think? Who do think Brother Correction should go after next? Should Kenaki become Anteiku's sole human worker?


End file.
